Friday, July 29, 2011

List of Picture Books and Chapter Books

Picture Books:

  • Fiesta Babies
  • Iguanas in the Snow
  • Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix
  • The Moon Over Star
  • The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy)
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
  • Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears
  • The Polar Express
  • First the Egg
  • Bink and Gollie
  • Chalk
  • City Dog, Country Frog
  • The Lion and the Mouse
  • Otis

Chapter Books:

  • Shiloh
  • Superfudge
  • Ramona and Her Father
  • The Giver
  • The Whipping Boy
  • The Sign of the Beaver
  • Charlotte’s Web
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  • The Color Purple
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Indian in the Cupboard
  • Lord of the Flies
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
  • Twilight
  • The Hunger Games

City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems (Picture Book)

City Dog, Country Frog

Notable Books for Children

A dog was from the city and ran to the country where he became friends with a frog.  They spent the spring playing frog games jumping, splashing, and croaking.  They spend the summer playing dog games by sniffing, fetching, and barking.  They spent the fall remembering what they did in the spring and summer.  In the winter the frog did not come back so the dog spent the winter alone.  The dog went back the next spring the frog still was not there but he became friends with a chipmunk.
This was a cute book about friendship between a dog and a frog.  I thought it had a good message because it helps a child understand that if one of your friends moves away he or she may be sad but they can make new friends.

Chalk by Bill Thomson (Picture Book)



Notable Books for Children

This book is about the adventures that children can have when they have a piece of chalk.  The children in this book draw pictures with chalk and use their imaginations to make these pictures come to life.  When it rains at the end of the book the chalk is erased and the imagined animals disappear.
This was a cute picture book.  It was unlike most children’s books in that it did not have an words but told a story through pictures.  I think this book would be great for young children, especially ones who have a great imagination.

Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee (Picture Book)



Notable Books for Children


This book had three stories in it.   The first book was about Bink buying a new pair of socks that Gollie did not like.  They compromised where Gollie gave Bink half of her pancakes and Bink took off one of her outrageous socks.  The second story was about Gollie going on different adventures and by the end inviting Bink to come with her.  The third story was about Bink buying a fish and taking it everywhere with her.  The fish bowl broke so Gollie took the fish to live in the pond to save its life.

This was a cute story of two girls who are friends.  There are many girls in the world who can relate to this story and the relationship between the girls.  I enjoyed reading this book as I’m sure girls of all ages will enjoy it, also.

First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Picture Book)



Caldecott Award:


This was about beginnings and what the beginning becomes.  For example the egg comes first and becomes a chicken.  A seed comes first and becomes a frog. Children first learn to write words and then learn to write stories.  At the end of the book it makes a full circle and the egg that becomes a chicken makes an egg.

This was cute book for children, especially for children about five and younger.  The words in this book help children identity things with words and pictures.  The pictures in the book were colorful and creative in bringing in the next word. 

The Moon Over Star by Dianna Hutts Aston (Picture Book)

The Moon Over Star

Coretta Scott King Award

This book is about a girl who experiences the excitement of the first man on the moon and where their dreams led them.  She knows that she has big dreams and wants to accomplish them, also.  Her Grandpa, who is not the biggest supporter of the space program, is a big supporter to his granddaughter and encourages her to dream big and go after her dreams.
I really liked this book and thought it had a great theme about dreaming big and never giving up on your dreams.  I liked that it portrayed the grandpa as being supportive of his granddaughter in wherever dreams led her.

Iguanas in the Snow by by Francisco X. Alarcon (Picture Book)



Pura Belpre Award:

This book was a variety of poems mainly about the life of a migrant child in San Francisco.  The author told the child’s life through poems.  Many of the poems were about San Francisco and others were about the personal life of the child.  The title comes from one particular poem called Iguanas in the Snow about the first time the child sees snow. 
This was an interesting way to tell a story.  I have not seen it done this way before.  Most poems tell a story throughout the poem but I have not seen the story continue throughout many poems in a single book.  I thought this was a creative way to tell a story.